It was just after 6.00 am on Sunday morning when I went down to see if the Dorset Mums to be were ok...... they were all up and about as I drove up, except one, who stayed behind a the back of the barn, but made herself known in her usual vocal way...... only this time it wasn't because she was demanding food but because she was most definitely in the throws of labour! There was a very large red balloon below her tail, so I opened a pen gate and then went to ask her to "step this way" Ezmie is one of the most tame and friendly sheep we have, she let me stroke her nose and then gently put my left hand under her chin and my right hand on top on her bum, and we calmly walked between all the others, weaving our way the the pen and then waited while she decided whether to enter or not........ after giving her a moment she marched in without any problem, so fastened the gate to secure her in, and then jumped in the car and went back to get Nigel.... We were back within a few minutes, and Nigel wanted me to investigate, so he held her while I had a feel in her behind... she was well on the way and I could feel both front feet and a nose.... Ezmie wasn't too fussed about that, so I used what I'd learned last year with Holly... placing the gloved hand that had been inside her rear for her to smell and lick.... she calmed immediately, and when her next pain came she lay down, and Nigel's help wasn't needed any more........ she let me use my lambing rope to loop round each little hoof, and pull each leg forward, one at a time, then with a pull on each little leg a large nose came quickly into sight and within seconds her beautiful and rather huge son was born........ He is much bigger than both Annie and Brenda are after a week...... with a much more arched nose, rather than the cute curves of the little girls..... and he is so hungry all the time...... he spent his first 24 hours either eating or sleeping........ and Ezmie loves him! Tabatha is still holding on to her lambs...... but we're keeping a close eye... the weather forecast is awful for the next few days so they will all be staying inside! We have named our lambs....... they are called Annie and Brenda... don't ask!! ..you know who you are!!!!! We had another call from Davinia the vet last night. Tabatha, who, on Monday, had shown signs of lambing within the next 24-48 hours was still not showing signs of anything..... She is fine... she's just going to lamb when she blinking well feels like it and not when we all second guess her!! While Davinia was there she suggested that we might like to use some lamb jackets to keep our new arrivals warmer on these chilly nights..... its getting below freezing at night with all these clear sky's so this morning I popped up to the surgery and collected a pack... I was expecting a single colour... perhaps blue or orange... but no... advertising has even reached this niche market.... I started with Brenda.... when she was born, Nigel thought she might be a bit slow on the uptake.... however there is nothing wrong between her ears... she's just even more laid-back than Dudley was.... she simply doesn't let anything bother her.... she has taken to laying her chin in my hand so that I can rub her cheeks with my fingers on one side of her face and my thumb on the other... it sends her into a trance..... so she was my choice when trying to dress a lamb in a plastic jacket for the first time.... having perfected the technique with her it was much easier to fit Annie with hers..... she's more of a wriggler! Don't think Louisa was that impressed with the new dress code, but it didn't stop her giving the girls their tea........ Still waiting for Tabatha!! Yesterday could have been so different......... but fortunately we have the happiest little family in the dales... What a brilliant mum! Louisa is feeling a little under the weather, to be expected after what she went through yesterday, although she is eating properly and drinking lots too, but just look at these two little darlings! Even with the coldest night we have had this winter, with ice on top of all the buckets this morning, these two had had their own central heating all night, from inside and out! Both had found their mums teats and are now full of hot milk, and they have had the hot breath of Louisa all night too..... there is nothing quite as warming, its like a hair dryer on full whack... and of course full warm lambs need lots of sleep too...... but we must teach them not to poo on each other's heads in future! We are now waiting for Tabatha to perform.. won't be long... and then hopefully they can all share a bigger pen and go out in the fresh air during the day, if the sun is shining...... the others will be another 2 weeks! Happy happy happy! At 6.00 this morning,from the barn there was nothing to report........ at 8.30 Nigel went over and said that Louisa didn't want her breakfast...... I went over at 10.00 but still there was nothing much happening so I segregated Louisa from the others, as it's much nicer for them to be quiet while they are giving birth, and then fed Tabatha a few more nuts to keep her in, for company... she'll be next, and then let the other out into the field for the day. I checked again at 1.30 and at 3.00 I returned from feeding all the other sheep, and at last there was a little pawing at the ground, and some secretions from behind, but no straining to speak of..... at 4.00 I went home to prepare some tea, and then went back at 5.00... I was starting to worry.... but at 5.30 Nigel came home and said we should maybe call the vet........... Davinia was there 15 mins later....... and while Nigel got the generator working so we could have some proper lighting, I helped hold Louisa... What happening next made my heart sink......... a small mummified lamb was birthed... probably dead for about 3 weeks... about the same time that Molly aborted hers........ but there was a small light of hope....... there was another lamb........ small but still alive! Thank goodness for that...... it was born a bit brown because of it's distress... but it was alive..... then as Davinia went back in to make sure that Louisa was ok inside....a real bonus.... a third lamb..... very distressed, much larger... and yes... also alive! So by 6.15 we had a very happy mum, safely in a clean dry pen, obviously delighted with her new babies.... a happy vet as we have broken her date record for "early" lambs by nearly a month....... and both of us relieved..... and best of all the lambs are both little gimmers! ............. And the interest from the other inhabitants of the barn was intense... they all lined up to have a look.. we had to secure them in their own side of the barn to give Louisa and her new girls some piece and quiet........ I've just been over to check them... the second born is mooching around and had obviously had something to eat.... the third born was still empty and wasn't cottoning on to where the food was available so...... I gave it 100 ml of colostrum which it positively guzzled.... had a wee... a wonder round...... and then went to sleep!!! ........... all in all a very busy day! We have lambs due from today onward........ I called in to see the girls at 6.00 am this morning and again at 10.00... but there were no signs of anything happening yet.......... I've kept them in today, as its a cold and rainy day....... newborn lambs don't like being cold or damp! We have fresh straw in birthing pens, clean buckets for water, and little racks full of hay...... My maternity ward is armed and ready for action!! We separated Vincent and Dudley from their respective flocks at the weekend and put them back together........ much to Dudley's annoyance.. he was mortified....... he spent the first 10 minutes knocking ten tonnes out of a fence post, breaking it off at the bottom... Nigel had to his foot against it to stop the fence coming down.......... then after showing Vincent how tough he was, turned on him and we watched the clattering of skulls, until Vincent quickly backed down......... there was a little more post battering to seal the dominance and then they got back to their brotherly relationship........ spending the rest of the day grazing together.......... Think it may have cured Vincent of his bossiness too, which is nothing but good! We took Douglas, with his gang, over to live with Mitsie and the others, and to give them all a change of scenery... This has made Peewee very needy... or is that greedy..... she managed to get the edge of the food bucket in her mouth to pull it down and towards her last night before plunging her nose in it, excluding anyone else from getting a mouth full........ clever girl! .... So.... Hope to have more to report and pictures of our first Poll Dorset lambs for you...... sooner rather than later........ I really can't wait!! Today is the day that my kit has been gathered together and is clean and ready for the girls to start lambing...... There is much to be considered, ready for every eventuality..... It includes:-
A multipurpose pen knife. A bright torch.. with new batteries.. lambing is hopeless and no fun at all in darkness or twilight! Various syringes and sterile needles for injections. Carprieve, antibiotic and penicillin. There is also glucose with an instruction sheet from the vet. I've never actually needed to use it but it required a specific mixture of 50/50 with boiled water and a precise place where it is injected into a cold dying lamb over 6 hours old. Large Syringe for injecting warm calcium.... and a bottle of calcium. Stomach tube and Syringe (with the plunger removed) A bottle with a good teat... powdered colostrum.. oh and the last sack of ewe milk powder in the district! Iodine to clean little umbilical cords. Pump of Spectam to cure any runny bottoms. Eye ointment as infections can spread really quickly. Head snare and Lambing rope.... and lubricant! A box of arm length yellow birthing gloves and a box of blue examination gloves Soap and a clean bucket for washing hands and an anti-bac gel.... and clean dry towels... always useful for drying hands as well as struggling wet lambs! Marking spray... blue as its not one of our farm colours... to number mum and lambs so if they get separated we can reunite them. And I always have a bleach spray.... to use on the rope and the snare to keep them as clean as possible if I can't wash them immediately. I also use Nigel's trekking heater, its like a large non-stick cup with a burner under it... you can make a cup of tea in it or heat a stew.... no not while I'm lambing..... when he's walking... Silly!... I bought it for him and he never uses it so I use it for heating up milk if it goes too cool, it's perfect..... and I mustn't forget to put a lighter in my pocket as in a drafty barn it doesn't want to light. This year we are also well stocked with straw and we had a wonderful harvest of hay and silage so we have all the fodder we need too........ from now until the end of April....... The last thing to do is to find my old faithful directors chair, give it a clean down and then I'm ready! It'll be any day now! It was my first early morning call at the barn today, at 6.00 am, to check that our girls are ok.......... One of the Dorsets, Dora, is sooooo fat that she looks like she'll burst at any moment... Nigel let them back into the field at 8.00 as the weather is due to be quiet sunny today, and they are better outside than in during the day, but when I returned at 10.15, before going to see Joan at Sycamore Hall, they hadn't moved very far from the gate..... they are appreciating their new found luxury... I'll check again before the sun goes down to bring them in for tea and to settle them down for the night....... Nigel goes back before we go to bed just to make sure that nothing is "moving"....... We decided that as no lambs were born at 4.00 am, at all, this spring, a 6.00 am visit is much more sociable for all concerned, it doesn't feel like the middle of the night somehow..... and its nearer to dawn when any natural "night" predators would be going to bed...it seems to allow the ewes to feel more secure about lambing..... My body clock is still on the wonk from February so I hope I can settle it down........... . Trouble is I wake up and clock watch because I'm on edge in case I sleep in........ can't win! Molly is fully recovered from loosing her lambs last week,, she is more inclined to come to us for some individual attention, which is why I'm convinced that she understands how much we care and that we tried to help her.... they are far more intelligent then we give them credit for. My belief is that one act of kindness sets them on a road to trust.... Even when we have to give them an injection for something, for example foot rot, we always stroke them in the place that we are treating so that the associate kindness with the treatment.... then we give them a handful of nuts before letting them go gently...... rather than just letting them up and ignoring them... They know that if there is a next time, it will be ok and not frightening... Many will think I'm completely bonkers... but just look at that happy face and you'll understand that it's worth the time and the trouble!!! One of the advantages of running such a lovely shop, is that often we have customers visit who have a very different attitude to life and a taste completely of their own. Sometimes when people wear particularly unusual garments which are for want of a better word, "inspirational", I like to ask them if I can take a photograph, as these things are so easily lost in our cluttered minds.... This is what happened earlier this month, and took I several pictures for my records. This is not something that I want to copy as such, but I do want to find out how this was woven...... I not only aspire to being able to understand the threading and weaving of such a complicated item, but also want to be able to design and make something using a similar method.......... What do you think? On Monday, before all the kerfuffle with Molly, I had met a good friend at the Berry's the farm shop and cafe in Swinithwaite. You can park your car there and go for a walk if the fancy takes you and on this lovely still morning it did. Max and I were well wrapped and walked down through the fields of sheep and drumlins down to the river. The Ure is a beautiful river and drops rapidly in this area over a series of waterfalls and rapids. Below Berry's it is calmer, and tree lined, in beach at this point, with an island full of newly planted saplings and a ladder to a viewing point, presumably to see the proliferation of wildlife which inhabits the area. On the way back we stumbled across an enormous Fairy ring......... full of frilly mushrooms... We didn't take any to eat because we're not knowledgeable in these things and might poison ourselves...... We had walked for over an hour and then returned to the cafe for lunch. We had a glass of water to start, just to re-hydrate then an enormous BLT with a home made chutney and a large garnish of coleslaw and salad leaves..... followed by a large coffee for Max and a very well dressed Hot chocolate for me... I needed a spoon to reduce the cream and marshmallow topping so I could actually take a slurp from it.... Yum.... a real treat! We had met at 11.00....... and when we looked at the clock it was after 3.00......... .......... Good company always makes time fly! .......... and a note about Molly and Douglas.....
Douglas is trotting around with a new spring in his step, and is full of beans... with a large helping of confidence! Molly had another night inside with all her friends, and all segregated from Vincent this time. This morning she was so much happier, she didn't go up to where she'd had her lambs and only "barred" to say goodbye.... she has no sign of any problems with her udder but there was a little discharge around her rear.... She is very much better in herself, so I'm not too worried about her.... We will continue to keep a close watch on her! .......... and thank you for your interest and your lovely good wishes for them both! |
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July 2017
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Welcome to my Blog
My long suffering partner and I love where we live and our growing flock of Ryeland and Mule sheep. At the rear of our home we tend a pretty cottage garden and at the front, just over the road, a walled and terraced vegetable garden which steps down to Walden Beck. We grow our own fruit and vegetables, and also keep a few hens and hives of bees...... And we run this lovely little country shop!
........Happy Days!